Road of Glass

Summary:
Marie is alone.
Where did Bella go?
After so long, Bella finally has a chance of finding happiness again, after years of slavery. The Volturi have unleashed their wrath against the defenseless human world, bringing the strongest of men to their knees. Does the world, or even one broken-hearted girl's happiness have a chance?
For when you're walking on a road of glass, it's so easy to fall through.

Notes:
The magical world of Twilight belongs to the equally magical Stephenie Meyer.
Isabella Marie Swan.
Marie.
Could Bella be gone forever?

1. Suffering

My breath rose to an unhealthy speed. The knife pressed harder into my throat, almost breaking skin. I closed my eyes. If anything was to be done to anyone around me, I did not want to see.

“M – m – Marie!” The voice in which coughed out my name belonged to Alissa, a friend of mine. An inescapable reaction, I opened my eyes to meet hers.

Just as the light disappeared from them.

My eyes snapped shut. The deathly scene in front of me was not something I wished to see. It made my stomach turn inside my torso. Alissa had been a good person. We all were. Why we deserved such horrible fates I knew not. Fear caused my head to spin, my heart to thud in my ears.

Tears spilled from my eyes. Such horrible pain they caused. My nails hit the floor with tiny taps as my hands trembled against the concrete floor. My ears suddenly opened up to the screams around me.

“Please, no!”

“Stop!”

“Ahh!”

“Help me!”

I heard myself whine under my breath. The hand on my shoulder tightened to a painful strength. I knew they could hear me. It didn't matter how low I said something, how slowly, or how swiftly I moved. They knew. They always knew.

And I knew they knew. I knew before every human. I had tried to warn them. They never listened. They thought with their fear, not their head. My tears hit the ground soundlessly to my ears, and I knew they could hear it.

I had to wait. I knew that was what I had to do. This wasn't the first time this had happened, or even the second. This horrible killing spree happened a lot. I knew what came next, as the screaming suddenly stopped.

I prepared myself.

And I did not scream when my neck was pierced by his teeth. I had numbed my mind to the pain, but my body still writhed with pain as he left me again, with the smallest of venom in my system. Not enough to change me. But enough to keep me alive. Enough to keep me strong.

Enough to keep me immortal. For now.

The pain brought back horrible memories of pain and love. This I had not numbed my mind to. There was no way to do this. I was not capable of numbing my own heart to love. I was not capable to dull my mind to hurt that ran so deep.

But this I could live through. They did this to these innocent people and myself so often I barely screamed. I still did so, of course. It was a human bodies natural reaction. But I could feel myself creeping slowly away from my ever-precious humanity. In a world like this, humanity was the only thing that we could hold on to. We had nothing else, it seemed.

But I remembered a time when my humanity had meant nothing to me. I remember how I would have gladly given it up in a moment's notice. But not to these monsters. He was so very different. What has this horrible world affected him?

My love.

My everything.

My heart still sang for him, but it was still too utterly human to sing loud enough. Now that this all had happened to us all, now that the Volturi had taken control, I wondered if my love's heart was still so pure.

It was at times of such horrible physical pain I allowed myself to think of him. There were other times too. I realized that if I still lived in a world where he existed, perhaps I would see him again one day. I thought of him when I realized that I needed him most.

My head screamed pleas of desperation, but I refused to voice them. I had learned.

I was one of the first humans to endure this. They had experimented much before me, I'm sure. But, as they knew somehow that I was aware of their other-worldly presence, they had chosen to me to be one of the first to inflict this plague onto.

They had stolen me right out of his arms. No, not my love. Not the kind I had for the man – vampire – who had left me so long ago, but the boy – werewolf – who had tried to fix me after his leaving.

Jacob. Oh, how I missed him.

I was sure he was dead now. They had held me there, making me watch, it seems, as they sank their teeth into my best friend. I was not sure how the rest of the pack had fared. It was too late by the time anyone other than Sam had shown up.

To this day, I blame myself.

Perhaps if I had been alone, perhaps if I hadn't gone and thrown myself off the cliff, Jacob would still be alive. Maybe. Just maybe.

The guilt weighed me down. I wriggled less and less as the hours passed. The venom, I knew, was passing through my system, contaminating my blood. But, as I was used to it, I knew I shouldn't say a thing. I kept as quiet as I could, screaming less throughout the time.

Finally, every scream ceased. The room filled with silence even louder than the noise that had filled the halls over the past hours. I heard the others panting. Not a good idea, I knew. We would be put to work, or shipped away to others right away. No time is wasted when it came to these vampires. This was their job, and they wanted it done right, and right away. The last thing you wanted to do in this situation was become dizzy by hyperventilation. Especially after the past exhausting hours. I kept my breathing as even as I could, keeping my heart rate at a normal level.

Two cold, marble hands grasped my arms tightly, yanking me into a standing position. My eyes snapped open, void of all emotion. I was led across each hallway with more care than the others. I was most likely the oldest there. I was ranked high among the humans here, if we were rewarded any rank at all. I was to be handled with care. I never thought this to be compliment. I was but mere merchandise to them. Fragile.